CRM Administrator Role

All successful CRM projects have a point person within your organization who assists in training and support issues as well as in coordinating information from the client-side. The role is so crucial to our mutual success that having a designated CRM administrator is a requirement with all projects we take on. This list below outlines the roles and responsibilities of this individual.

What does the term 'CRM Administrator' mean?

This is the expression we use to define the primary point of contact for all training and support issues. In our projects, we take a train-the-trainer approach which means that we focus on developing your administrator, transferring our knowledge over to this person. This can involve setting up users, building reports, or more. While each of our projects has a defined administrator, the skill sets and abilities of that individual vary greatly. How far they take the role depends on the individual.

What are the responsibilities of this role?

This individual will be responsible for understanding the CRM application at a deeper level than the rest of the users at your company. They will be required to help coordinate information and act as the primary point of contact for your users related to CRM. For instance, we often create user guides to accompany go-live. At the bottom of the user guide, it will state. “Any questions should be submitted directly to #your crm administrator#”.

This video emphasizes the significance of the CRM Administrator role.

What makes a good CRM Administrator?

Reliable, approachable, consistent are all adjectives we would use. Be aware that while the ideal candidate is computer savvy, this is not a technical role, and generally it is better if the person is not from your IT team but holds an in-house administrative role.

How much time is required for this role?

This depends on the size and complexity of the project, but generally, this role might require 8 hours a week for the first couple of months and then less as time goes on.

In a project, how many CRM Administrators are there?

Normally a couple of people within your organization will have administrative rights within the CRM application but we focus on developing only a single person as your defined administrator. The logic being, if too many people have this role, then really nobody ever takes ownership of this role.

What will this individual be able to do?

While technically speaking there is nothing your internal CRM administrator is unable to do with these administrative rights, in practice, there are some items/tasks that do not occur not frequently enough for your administrator(s) to be comfortable doing. This link launches a detailed guideline of the items your CRM Administrator should be able to do (once trained) versus what your My CRM Manager project manager normally addresses.

Why this is an excellent opportunity for the right person?

Learning how the CRM system works is part of the job, but a bigger part is understanding how your organization works. This can include the needs of specific users (example reports) and how different persons and/or departments interact with one another. Understanding how your organization’s information management system works can be a very empowering role.

What makes for a great CRM Administrator?

Great administrators are organized and thoughtful and want the job. They verify any issues submitted by staff members before submitting any issues on to our team and (bonus) always submit pictures and/or videos to support the questions or issues they are reporting to us.

At My CRM Manager, we use a screen capture tool from TechSmith called Snagit. This can be used for screen captures and short videos. We encourage all our clients to get this practical tool, which is $50.

Signs of an ineffective Administrator

Forward issues to us without first attempting to understand and verify the issue.
They do not conduct testing as required.
They do not do the homework assigned to them.
They rarely if ever submit images and are generally reluctant to do the job.

Warning

An ineffective administrator makes it harder for us, but also consider your internal staff. If this individual is not approachable or keen on the job, co-workers will be reluctant to ask questions and use the system effectively. An ineffective administrator inadvertently sabotages your CRM initiative.

What happens if the defined CRM Administrator leaves?

If your designated point person is no longer available for this role, we need you to reassign a new one. Any efforts we have made in transferring our knowledge to your point person will have to be re-applied. If this happens during the initial deployment of CRM, it can have a detrimental effect on timelines.

What is you do not currently have a person for this role?

Our recommendation is that you do not proceed with your CRM initiative until you have such a person in place.

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